“One day it may dawn on you that it really did happen, and it happened to YOU,  and you really were hurt.

You will no longer need to decide whether to see yourself as victim, or hero, or both.

You will not be ‘healed’.

But your consciousness can embrace the whole of your hurt self.”

-Martha Ramsey

Where I Stopped

(Sexual Assault Victim at age 13)

It takes considerable trust and courage to remember and re-MEMBER scattered pieces of self that became disconnected after sexual assault. Using her personal story, Dr. Jo Wakeela Jones addresses how sexual violence impacts a victim’s body, brain, self-image, and self-worth: “Each of the 4 assaults I endured over my lifetime caused me to ‘dis-member’ pieces of myself; each dis-memberment was different and yet the same. I now recognize these ‘Soul Injuries’ in others, and I’m continually struck by just how difficult it is for us to have gone through the unspeakable and then have to figure out how to convey the essence of what we went through. It is so much easier for us to talk about what was done TO us, rather than to notice, feel, and put into words the reality of our internal experience.” Nationally-acclaimed author and presenter, Deborah Grassman, will join Dr. Jones to provide tools that will awaken victims and their supporters in how to respond to the aftermath of sexual violence so that their consciousness can embrace the ‘whole of their hurt self’. Grassman says that victims sometimes get stuck in the past; they continue to be “there’ and not know how to be ‘here’: “It takes work to get “here”—fully  alive in the present moment and fully present to your REAL self. The intention of this workshop is to help people heal the relationship they have with themselves so they can experience their REAL self.”

Workshop is virtual on the Zoom platform from 10:00 AM EST to 5:00PM EST.

6 CEs available for nursing from ANCC

6CEs pending from NASW for social workers

6CEs pending for counselors from NBCC